In this Vienna Coffee House Conversations episode, Ivan Vejvoda interviews Gerald Knaus about the origins, achievements, and current challenges of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. Knaus recounts how the European Coal and Steel Community, the Treaty of Rome and the Schengen Agreement built a single market underpinned by mutual trust and shared law enforcement. He then assesses the strain placed on Schengen by the Syrian and Ukrainian refugee movements, and explains the collapse of the Dublin system under free movement. Turning to solutions, Knaus advocates centrist, humane control via safe-third-country agreements, expanded resettlement and labour migration in a Canadian/Australian model, and credible European deterrence independent of U.S. guarantees. He closes by arguing for clear, merit-based EU enlargement and better storytelling to engage younger Europeans on peace, security, and the climate.
Discussion Highlights:
Building Schengen: Origins in the Coal and Steel Community (1952), the Treaty of Rome (1958), and the Schengen Agreement (1995), creating 16,000 km of invisible internal borders through a single market and shared enforcement mechanisms.
Asylum strains: Germany and Austria have received over half of all EU asylum seekers during the Syrian and Ukrainian crises, revealing the breakdown of the Dublin allocation rules under free movement.
Humanitarian crisis at the external border: Approximately 30,000 people have died attempting Mediterranean crossings in the last decade, underscoring the need to address smuggler-driven journeys.
EU–Turkey precedent: The 2016 agreement cut irregular crossings from about 1 million to 30,000 and deaths from 1,100 to 80 within a year, demonstrating the efficacy of safe-third-country arrangements.
Safe-third-country proposals: Knaus calls for similar pacts with West African states to deter Canary Islands crossings, coupled with procedural guarantees under international law.
Regular migration frameworks: Expansion of refugee resettlement and labour migration via planned pathways—in the style of Canada or Australia—to meet workforce needs and reduce reliance on smugglers.
European deterrence: With U.S. reliability in doubt, Europe must bolster its own deterrent capacity—including possibilities such as a German nuclear option—and integrate frontline democracies.
EU enlargement: A clear, merit-based accession roadmap for Ukraine, Moldova, and Western Balkan candidates is essential to reinforce democracy, security, and prosperity.
Engaging the next generation: Francesca Knaus highlights a gap in how Europe’s peace “miracle,” the lived threat of modern warfare, and climate urgency are communicated to younger Europeans.
About Gerald Knaus
Gerald Knaus is an Austrian social scientist and co-founder and chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), which he helped establish in Sarajevo in June 1999. An alumni of the University of Oxford, the Institut d’Études Européennes in Brussels, and the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center, Knaus taught macroeconomics at the State University of Chernivtsi in Ukraine, worked for NGOs and international organisations in Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina and directed the Lessons Learned and Analysis Unit of the EU pillar of UNMIK in Kosovo.
He is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and served as an Associate Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Knaus was a Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow in Istanbul and a Europe's Futures Fellow at the IWM here in Vienna.
Knaus co-initiated and co-negotiated the 2016 EU–Turkey migration statement, authored Can Intervention Work? (2011) and Welche Grenzen brauchen wir? and received the Karl Carstens Award in 2021. He lives in Berlin.
Further Reading & Resources
European Stability Initiative profile: https://www.esiweb.org/esi-staff/gerald-knaus
Rumeli Observer blog: https://www.esiweb.org/rumeliobserver
Piper Verlag author page: https://www.piper.de/autoren/gerald-knaus-6417
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rumeliobserver
Gerald and Francesca Knaus's new book, Welches Europa Bracuhen Wir? is available to pre-order from amazon.de and will be published at the end of August 2025.